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One thing I don't understand is CJ are rambling on and on about how the reduction in the cookie period (give it a few months and many companies will have reduced to them to 1 or 2 days mark my words) is not important. Their argument is that most people make their purchases immediately.

(1) My experience with MagMall and other companies DISproves that point. Most people, especially when it comes to high-value goods, prefer to think about it and often return to the site a few days later. This will become even more so the case during the recession.

(2) If the change is meaningless and will have no effect, then why are merchants scrambling over themselves to cut the cookie period?

If most purchases are made immediately, why are merchants desperate to slash the period in which affiliates are eligible for commission from 90 days which it used to be, to one day?

I think they're just GREEDY capitalists. I'm glad they're all going bust. If you live by the sword, trampling over other people and treating them with disrespect, you die by the sword.

This is the second forum to which I've seen you post this message within the past few minutes.

In any case, CJ remains one of the most reputable and reliable affiliate networks - both from a publisher's and merchant's perspective. And while I'm sure that this change will have a measurable effect in some cases, I would argue that it is simply yet another evolution in the survival market, and that most affiliates will see only a slight change in their conversion ratios.

Czar - Former SitePoint Alumni

Want to make more money from your website?Join Geek/Talk to find out how!

We use CJ and Clickxchange as our affiliate management platforms. Comparing the two services we've found CJ reporting very questionable at times. This move to reducing the cookie storage period is likely to lead to even more sporadic reporting.

I have been a CJ affiliate for well over a year and have always been happy with that end of things. However, I am not impressed with the merchant end of things. I signed up about a month ago and still can't go live on there system because there support for merchants is terrible. I have a very simple question that I need them to answer but all I have gotten so far is a run around. For the kind of money I spent to get setup I expect a reply in 24 hours but I am lucky if they get back to me in less than a weeks time. Furthermore, they changed their policy so you have to pay a $250 minimum to them every month. So now I will have to generate at least $1250 in sales every month through the affiliate program or pay them the difference.

The most dissappointing thing for me, is that they came so highly recommended and have such a great reputation. It seems like they have slacked off now that they have built themselves up.

Strider, that's very disappointing to hear. I was also always under the impression that CJ offered great support to their merchants.

The only reason that I use ClickXchange rather than CJ to manage my own affiliate programs (pay-per-click) is due to the new minimum monthly expenditure condition that you mentioned. This move seems to indicate that they're moving to focus more on large, established merchants (in much the same way as LinkShare and BeFree do), rather than dedicate excessive overheads to serving smaller players.

If you don't mind me asking, why are you moving away from the program you are presently running through MyAffiliateProgram.com? They seem to be solid and reliable.

Is it because being a CJ merchant gives you automatic access to 10s of 1000s of potential affiliates, without having to promote the program yourself? Or is there a technical reason for this?

Czar - Former SitePoint Alumni

Want to make more money from your website?Join Geek/Talk to find out how!

Originally posted by Strider I have been a CJ affiliate for well over a year and have always been happy with that end of things. However, I am not impressed with the merchant end of things. I signed up about a month ago and still can't go live on there system because there support for merchants is terrible.

We've run three merchant programs with CJ since June last year, and the support has always been pretty poor. I know exactly what your talking about when it comes to account activisation times. I found the best way to get them to speed up the process is to contact your account manager repeatadly on a daily basis until he's so hassled with your emails that he does something about it. If you havent got a direct contact email address, I can help you out with one. Just let me know.

Czar - I am moving away from myaffiliateprogram because of the features they offer. When I signed up with them 8 months ago they promised me they would have a method to track recurring billing in less than 2 months. As a web hosting provider, I want to pay my affiliates a commission for every month the account the refer is open. Unfortunatly, not only have they made no attempt at adding this feature, they want to start charging me more. The current system they have is great but it does not do everything I need it to do and despite there promises, they have no intention of adding it anytime soon. My other reason for going with CJ was to have access to the large affiliate base they have built up as well as letting them handle all the details like cutting the checks every month.

JamesCross - Thanks for the tip, they never assigned me a representative, if you have any direct contact information you could send me, that would be great.